Bee Researchers
Virginia Scott is the Collections Manager of the Entomology Collections at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. Her work with solitary wood-nesting bees began in 1983, in the meadows of Upper Michigan while observing a bee (Osmia lignaria) nicknamed R-2 for ten days straight. She continued with that study for a decade during which time she completed her Master’s Degree in Entomology at Michigan State University studying the biology of wood-nesting Hylaeus.
Dr. Alexandra Rose is the Citizen Scientist Coordinator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and Science Discovery. Alex has a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UC Santa Cruz, where she studied Tree Swallows for her dissertation, relying on an entirely volunteer workforce of field assistants ranging in age from 17 to 67. Although she’s primarily a bird biologist, Alex has experience working with a variety of species including white-tailed deer, small mammals, and even polar bears.
Click here to learn more about Dr. Rose and the Bees' Needs project
Dr. Chelsea Cook is a PhD graduate from the University of Colorado Boulder. She is generally interested in how large societies function efficiently, and she uses honey bees to explore this. She focuses on how honey bees work together to cool their colonies using fanning behavior. This has implications in knowing more about how honey bees accomplish critical tasks, but also understanding more about animal societies in general. In addition to using honey bees in her research, Chelsea also uses them as outreach tools for science education.
